Treatment of ores.



TE ITTMTZ STATES PATENT @FFTQE.

CHARLES LIIORRIS JOHNSON, OF AVALON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO CRUCIBLE STEEL COMPANY OF AMERICA, A CORPORATION OF NET/V JERSEY.

TREATMENT OF ORES.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, CHARLES MORRIS JOHNSON, residing at Avalon, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered a certain new and useful Improvement in the Treatment of Ores, of which improvement the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the preparation of tungsten ores for use in metallurgical operations, and particularly to the preparation of these ores for introduction, together with other steel-making ingredients, into the charge of a crucible, or other steel-making receptacle, wherein tungsten steel is to be produced.

It has long been thought necessary, in the manufacture of tungsten steel, that the tungsten ingredient of the charge be substantially pure metallic tungsten. In my application for Letters Tatent filed June 19th, 1909, Serial No. 503,112, I have described and claimed a method of producing metallic tungsten of great purity and at a much less cost than previous to my invention had been possible, to the end that the operation of making tungsten steel may be reduced in cost. In two other applications, one filed November 15th. 1909, Serial No. 528,156, and the other filed January 31st, 1910, Serial No. 541,014, I have described and claimed a method of making tungsten steel, and a method of treating tungsten ore, the characteristic feature of which methods is that, instead of preparing and using metallic tungsten in substantially pure condition, the silica-containing dross with which the ores of commerce are largely adulterated is not removed (a step which had previously been considered necessary to success) but the tungsten is introduced, with the silica dross remaining, into the steel-making crucible or other receptacle. and in the course of the steel-making the silica is slagged out.

My present invention is a still further improvement in the way of simplicity. Referring again to my application, Serial No. 541,014, itwill be noted that therein 1 have described whatis called the acid treatment for tungsten ores. by which those metallic substances with which tungsten is in nature combined are first removed. and then the remaining tungsten-containing substance is subjected to further treatment. The other Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 18, 1910.

Patented Nov. 29, 1910.

Serial No. 567,647.

metallic substances to which I here refer are commonly manganese and iron. I have found that it is not necessary that this preliminary acid treatment he performed, but that the ore, in which tungsten compounds are combined with compounds of iron and manganese and the like, may, without such preliminary treatment, be subjected to the reducing operation which changes the oxids of tungsten and leaves tungsten in metallic condition, and that the ore so treated and so changed may then be charged into the crucible or other receptacle, together with the other steel-making ingredients.

The commercial tungsten ores are scheelite, wolframite, huebnerite and ferberite. Scheelite contains a large percentage of calcium, and accordingly it is not well adapted to operation according to my present invention. )Volframite is essentially a compound of oXids of iron, tungsten, and manganese; huebnerite is a combination of oXids of manganese and tungsten; and ferberite is a combination of the oxids of iron and tungsten. These ores in their commercial forms (known as concentrates are combined with considerable quantities of dross, of which I have made mention above, and this dross ordinarily contains a large amount of silica. There are also other impurities in small quantities, such as sulfur, phosphorus, and in some cases traces of lead, copper, and arsenic. In case sulfur be pres ent in large quantities, the ore may be sub jected to a preliminary roasting to remove the sulfur. Otherwise, I proceed in the simplest possible manner. I grind the ore to a finely divided condition (say a reasonably fine powder), and I add to the ore so prepared a suflicient quantity of charcoal, the amount being determined by experiment, and mix the two substances together. I then charge the mixture into a reducing furnace, and perform the reducing operation in regular and well known manner. The product of this operation is of course a material in which the tungsten is in metallic form, and it has combined with it some amount of manganese (and, in case of wolframite and ferberite, some amount of iron) and silica, with small adulterations which are insignificant. This substance, charged iron present With the tungsten ingredient is incidentally reduced and made available for the steel making.

I claim herein as my invention:

1. The herein described process of treating tungsten ore which consists in taking a body of the ore, With its native adulterants and dross, mixing it With a body of carbon, and submitting the mixture to the action of a reducing furnace.

2. The herein described process of treat ing a sulfur-containing tungsten ore Which consists in taking a body of ore, With its native adulterants and dross, roasting it, and then, mixing the roasted ore With a body of carbon, and submitting the mixture to the action of a reducing furnace.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

CHARLES MORRIS JOHNSON. Witnesses:

G. G. TRILL,

FRANCIS J. ToMAssoN. 

